Wemba's Dream: Join the Journey
Sunday 3 September 2023, 1.15pm, 2.30pm & 3.45pm
Thank you for joining Wembley Park and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (also known as the RPO) for this festival performance celebrating the people of Brent, many of whom have travelled here and made it their home.
Local artists have collaborated with the RPO to create a unique performance specially designed to be performed in Green Parking at Wembley Park.
Where to go
Check out the map of the day in our online brochure
What happens
Once you have exchanged your ticket for a wristband, wait in the Undercroft under the Olympic Steps for the performance to start.
1.15pm, 2.30pm and 3.45pm - Olympic Steps
Fanfare for Humanity by Libby Larsen
The performance starts at the Undercroft with a fanfare played by 11 members of the RPO's brass section: trumpets, horns, trombones and tubas. Libby Larsen was born in 1950 and is one of America's most-performed composers.
Sugar Bum Bum by Lord Kitchener
Members of Mahogany Carnival Arts will then lead you in a festival procession around Wembley Stadium to Green Parking, where the rest of the performance will take place.
Aldwyn Roberts, better known by the stage name Lord Kitchener (or "Kitch"), was a Trinidadian calypso musician. He had a hugely successful music career during the Second World War. In 1948, Lord Kitchener arrived in London on the Empire Windrush. Upon his arrival at Tilbury Docks, Kitchener famously performed the specially-written song "London Is the Place for Me", which he sang live on a report for Pathé News. He recorded Sugar Bum Bum in 1977.
1.30pm, 2.45pm and 4pm - Car park
Celebration by Richard Rodney Bennett
The RPO will start the next part of the performance with this short and exuberant piece composed by British composer Richard Rodney Bennett in 1991. At the front of the Orchestra, you will see conductor Patrick Bailey. A long-time collaborator of the RPO he will keep the orchestra, dancers and other musicians together, making sure that they are playing the right thing at the right time... He also provides guidance to the musicians on how to play the music. He will indicate what emotions they should be putting into their performance and what kind of energy he wants the audience to feel when they hear the music.
Celebration is a piece full of anticipation and excitement. You will hear the music scurrying around the orchestra, passed from the strings to the percussion and through the woodwind instruments.
Wemba's Dream: Join the Journey by Dani Howard
This specially commissioned piece of music has been written by British composer and arranger Dani Howard. The RPO will collaborate with performers from local Brent groups throughout the piece. The spoken word group Word Up will be our guide for the performance, steering us through our journey.
After Word Up's first appearance, the Sujata Banerjee Dance Company will perform a piece choreographed by Sujata herself. It is inspired by migrating birds and the vast murmurations (or moving formations) that flocks of birds make in the sky. Dani Howard has worked with Sujata to create the music in a piece called Seasonal Flight that musicians from the RPO will perform.
Word Up will then lead us into an original song, Journeying Home, written by Trevor Brown and orchestrated by Dani, that Trevor and the RPO will perform.
After Word Up's final appearance, you will hear the St Michael and All Angels Steel Orchestra performing a version of Sugar Bum Bum (orchestrated by Dani) live with the RPO and Mahogany Carnival in a fantastic finale to Wemba's Dream: Join the Journey.
Find out more
You can find out about each artist and group performing today on the RPO's website.
Read more about the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
What next?
Why not join the RPO's Brent Membership scheme? It is open to all residents and workers, and members have access to discounted tickets for RPO performances at the Royal Albert Hall, Cadogan Hall and Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall.
Find out about upcoming events at Wembley Park.
Check out all of the RPO's forthcoming events in Brent.